Speaking with Closer, Frank spoke about how the actor found the love of his life in his wife Lisa Niemi.
“Buddy loved that woman more than life itself,” Frank told the publication.
“They fought like married couples do but he loved her with his dying breath,” he added.
But it was the fact the pair never had children was Patrick’s deepest regret.
“I was born to be a dad,” Patrick once said.
They tried and tried but Lisa miscarried in 1990.
“It broke his heart,” Frank revealed. “He wanted to be a dad more than anything. He had skills, knowledge, kindness and love – everything a child would want,” Frank added.
Lisa and Patrick went onto raise horses, yet his deep regret lingered and he turned to drink to help him deal with life’s pressures, particularly when his father died of a heart attack in 1982 and his sister committed suicide with prescription pills in 1994.
According to Frank, his love affair with alcohol came with not having a child and the fights he had with Lisa.
The pair reconciled before his death from pancreatic cancer in 2009. He had been married to Lisa for 33 years.
“I admire everything imaginable about him. His courage, strength and humour,” Lisa said.
And when Patrick died on September 14, 2009, Lisa was right by his side. Frank said he was finally satisfied with his life, despite not having children.
“He seemed at peace with it,” he said.